


if you talk enough sense then you'll lose your mind

by hclliish



Category: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Hollywood, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/F, Harrow knows she's a lesbian she just doesn't want to admit she's a lesbian for Gideon, Harrow's parents are pulling a "we do not see it" with their daughter's sexuality, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Jealousy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Rivals to Lovers, Slow Burn, and i don't want to think about child labor laws, ianthe is the worst as usual, john is the worst as usual, making them all grown ups because jeannmarie and isaac are interns, mostly cause I haven't quite plotted everything else out yet, of course there's jealousy it's harrow and gideon, referenced pal/dulcinea, tags will be updated as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:14:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29640768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hclliish/pseuds/hclliish
Summary: Classically trained British theatre-turned-film actress Harrowhark Nonagesimus and stunt woman and action star Gideon Nav are set to costar and play love interests inReach of the Sea, a period drama and Camilla Hect's directorial debut. On screen, the chemistry is electric, but off screen, they can barely stand each other.Somehow, they are going to have to make this work, for the sake of their careers.
Relationships: Camilla Hect & Gideon Nav, Dulcinea Septimus/Palamedes Sextus, Gideon Nav & Dulcinea Septimus, Gideon Nav & Palamedes Sextus, Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus, John Gaius | Necrolord Prime & Gideon Nav
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	if you talk enough sense then you'll lose your mind

It was a cold, dark, winter morning in Harrow’s cold, dark, empty flat when she received the email. Two cups of coffee in and getting through her morning routine, she was going through spam mail as a way to ignore the text from her mother that felt like it was burning a hole in her pocket. Something about wanting her to fly over for a weekend, and a very casual mention of a dinner with them - and maybe being joined by their dear family friend Glaurica and her son, Ortus. How very subtle of her. 

Drumming her fingers against the table, the new email from Crux caught her eye the moment it appeared at the top of the inbox. _**NEW OPPORTUNITY**_ in big, bold, unread email letters, and she wondered if her agent was extremely excited, or if he’d just not noticed that he’d left the caps lock on again (he might not be the most technologically savvy, but Crux was connected, and good at his job.) And it seemed like it was right up her alley - drama, period piece, the kind of script she’d been looking to do when she’d made the shift from theatre to film. And finally it was sitting in front of her. She only paused when she hit the first scene between the lead characters, who she could only assume were each other’s love interests. Both of whom were women. 

Well now she was hooked. Harrow knew how few pieces like this got made, and she was instantly ready to do whatever she had to so that she could get the part. 

Hearing her phone buzz, Harrow finally looked away, able to guess who was on the other end of the line before she’d even looked at the ID. “Good morning Crux.”

“Did you see my email?” Always to the point with him. 

“I’m looking at the script right now.”

“Good. The director was asking for you specifically, so read it and say yes.”

That made Harrow pause for a moment. She’d noticed the name attached - Camilla Hect. She was pretty sure they’d crossed paths at a party or two, but she hadn’t realized she’d made such an impression. “She did?”

“She seems to think you’d be a good fit for the Florence role.”

“The lead?”

“Exactly. So read it and say yes, so I can call them back and tell them you’ll come in for a reading.”

“A read - I thought you said she asked for me specifically.” 

“She did. Something about the studio wanting to have some options. And also needing to do a chemistry reading with the co-lead.” 

“They’ve already cast the other lead?”

“Yeah, apparently they’ve cast Gideon Nav. I didn’t know she was interested in anything other than action films.” 

Harrow recognized the name, though she wasn’t sure she’d ever actually seen anything Gideon was in. If she remembered correctly, she’d heard about Gideon mostly through reputation - mostly for being a huge flirt, but at least she was also apparently a good stunt actor. Not that she was really sure how that skill set would be useful in this. 

She’d just have to see.

\---

“Seriously?” Gideon asked incredulously, staring down at the headshot of the somber, petite actress she’d just been informed was coming in to read for the other lead role in the film. She had a sort of ‘definitely had a goth phase in high school she may not have fully grown out of’ look to her. But Gideon recognized that name. “Harrowhark Nonagesimus? Isn’t she supposed to be, you know, little high strung?”

“Not everyone can reach your levels of zen, Nav.” Camilla didn’t glance up from the studio notes. “Besides, she’s a good actress, and this is her genre. _And_ her parents are basically stage acting royalty. With any luck, it’ll give us some weight with the critics.” 

“I still think you’re setting yourself up for more stress than you need.”

“I’m directing Nav, it’s going to be stressful either way. I just need you to come so we can do a chemistry reading with her - if she’s even interested that is.” 

“Of course I’ll be there. And of course she’ll be interested. It’s a good script Cam,” Gideon promised. Even if she wasn’t sure how Harrow would be to work with, she knew this was important for her friend. She wanted this to go well for Camilla, of course she was going to do everything she could to help. Never mind that she was pretty sure she was also contractually obligated to be there. This was for her friend - and possibly getting to flirt with some of the other cute actresses that were there. And who knew, maybe what she’d heard about Harrow was _wrong_ \- rumours did have that quality every so often. 

“Thanks Gideon,” Camilla said softly, smiling properly for the first time in what felt like hours. “Now, can you help me look through some of these?” She began covering the table in headshots. “We’ve got a lot of roles to get through here.” Gideon sighed, but moved around to stand next to Camilla, looking over the images as they got spread out. 

As they started going through the photos the door opened, and a familiar male voice called out that he had dinner. “Pal, my favourite person,” Gideon crowd, taking the bags from him and opening them, the smell of indian food already starting to waft through the entire apartment. “Come on Cam, we can break for a little bit and eat. You’ve been going hard all day,” she pointed out, setting containers down and moving to get plates. She heard Pal add something that sounded a lot like _‘she has a point’_ from where Gideon was standing, and couldn’t help but smile to herself. She _was_ right. She just wanted her friends to take care of herself, they were practically family.

\---

It was very early the next morning, though really not that much earlier than Gideon usually got up, when she was forced awake by the ringing and buzzing of her phone on the bedside table. Groggily, she reached over, not even looking for the thing and just feeling around until she found it on the third ring. “Hello?” She asked, pushing herself up by an elbow to try and force her brain to wake up enough to actually pay attention to the call.

“She said yes! Gideon oh my god -” Camilla’s voice was a lot more awake than hers, and Gideon couldn’t help but wonder if she’d gone overboard on the coffee. 

“Hect, slow down, what are you talking about?” She asked, cutting her off mid sentence to try and get her to back up and explain. 

“I just got a call from Harrow’s agent. She read the script and she loves it, and she’s coming in to do the reading and I swear to god if John doesn’t think she’s good for this role I’m going to -” Camilla followed that with a growl, and Gideon could mentally see her throttling the air like it was the producer’s neck. 

“Cam, you’ve gotta be careful with those threats. John is not the kind of guy you want to piss off.”

“Yeah, I know, I know. I just need this to be good, Gideon.”

“It _will_ be. You’ve got an incredibly sexy lead here, how could it not be a smash hit?” Camilla was trying not to laugh and failing, and Gideon could practically hear her shoulders de-tensing through the phone. “I’ll be there for the chemistry read, promise. Any other good news you have to share this morning?”

“No, that was the big thing. See you later Nav.”

“Bye Cam,” she said, before hanging up the phone. Glancing at the bedside clock, she sighed and pushed herself out of bed. No point in getting back to sleep for just a few minutes, she might as well get up and get a start on her morning workout. These muscles of hers didn’t build themselves. 

\---

Harrowhark Nonagesimus was not in the practice of being nervous. She could walk into that building, walk into the right room, get the part with ease. It was practically already hers for the taking, any other actresses were just there so the studio could have the idea of choice. Never mind that those other actresses might be good. Never mind that John Gaius; director, producer, and her personal idol that she'd dreamed of working with, was going to be watching her act.

Besides, if she could have chemistry live on stage with male leads, then this would be a sweep. She’d made sure to familiarize herself with Gideon’s face and past roles, not about to humiliate herself on something as basic as getting the wrong person. She seemed to be a decent enough actress, and even Harrow had to admit she had talent when it came to her stunt work. Maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t be the worst co-star Harrow had ever had. 

Walking into the building, Harrow scanned over the groups of other actresses running their lines. Either they were having casting calls for other roles as well, or they’d called in a lot of actresses for this one part. Not that it would matter. Harrow was more than determined to get the role. She could do this. 

And there was Gideon. Surrounded by a few other actresses, all clearly enamoured. So the rumours were true. Harrow could feel her expectations dropping already. 

And then Gideon had the audacity to wink at her.

\---

Gideon recognized a few of the people that had come in to read for parts, but it was mostly unfamiliar faces looking for the smaller roles - people still trying to make their breakout. She’d gotten there early, knowing it would make her and Camilla feel better if she wasn’t worried about being late. But she didn’t have much to do, not needing to be in the room for most of the casting - not until the chemistry reads started. So she was spending her time hanging around, talking to some of the people she recognized, catching up with people she hadn’t seen in forever. She needed to find time to go out more.

Able to feel someone’s gaze boring into the side of her skull, she turned her head, looking towards the short, dark haired woman she recognized as none other than Harrowhark. She looked even more tense than she had in the headshots - was she nervous? Or was she just _like that?_. Gideon shot her a wink, thought that didn’t seem to do much good. 

This was going to be a long film shoot.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't make any promises about update schedule, because I'm writing this as a side project while working though my fourth year of university. But, I hope you enjoy, because I haven't been able to stop thinking about Gideon the Ninth since I started reading it (so thank you to my girlfriend for that - and for being a constant source of inspiration for all of this, and for listening to all of my ideas and plot threads and character notes, and for agreeing to test read chapters for me)


End file.
